By Karna Bodman
Have you ever heard a song that inspired you to write a story or a poem? I know I have. Shakespeare once wrote, “If music be the food of love, play on.” It is said that Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce were also inspired by music when they wrote some of their most famous tales.
When I wrote my newest thriller, Protecting Jess, I wanted to craft a scene in the exotic (and romantic) city of Rio where I have my hero and heroine out for a pleasurable evening at a bazaar featuring various kinds of Brazilian music such as the samba. I worked hard on that chapter to create a romantic scene which was key to the development of their relationship and his determination to “Protect Jess” at all costs.
My own love of music began when I was really young. My mother was a piano teacher who became quite well known. She had her own studio at age 17 and her pupils gave recitals which were written up in the Chicago Tribune. My dad sang in a barbershop quartet known as “The Elastic Four,” a name given to them by a writer for the Saturday Evening Post who heard them being able to “stretch” to very high as well as very low notes. My dad is the second from the left. His quartet won the Barbershop International Championship back in 1942. They made three albums of Victor records, sang a show with Bing Crosby and at a celebration when the NY Yankees won the pennant. I still remember harmonizing with my father beginning at the age of three (!).
Now, every year we hold a Christmas party for some 80-100 Naples friends here at the house, and I wanted to introduce them to four-part harmony. So I fly in a championship quartet as the entertainment. Please take a moment to listen to this song by “Gimme Four.” This was their opening song in our living room last year – and when you listen to the very end, you will be amazed at the tenor’s “breath control” Click here.
Have you, like me, found that songs have a unique ability to transport you back in time to remind you of a childhood adventure or perhaps a previous love? If that has happened, tell us about it in the comment section below.
And if you are a writer, has music ever become your muse?
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Karna Small Bodman is the author of five international thrillers that have hit #1 in Thrillers on Amazon and won several awards, as well as a series of children’s picture books. Her books were inspired by the six years she served in the Reagan White House, first as Deputy Press Secretary, later as Senior Director of the National Security Council where she was the highest-ranking woman on the White House staff. On book tours she has given over 400 speeches and interviews nation-wide. When not writing or traveling, she is serving on several boards and swimming laps at their homes in Naples, FL, and Washington, DC.
Like you, I grew up with music and musical instruments. None of us were outrageously talented but we’ll still go to the theater to see any musical made. But when I’m writing my thrillers I listen to CDs of movie soundtracks and especially this one from a Cleveland group called Midnight Syndicate that wrote the background music for scary video games!
That guy’s breath control was remarkable! My father was a singer. As a young man he had his own radio show in Manhattan and was billed as “ up and coming with the likes of Josh White and Burl Ives.” Then his father cabashed that and insisted my dad go to medical school. He ended up a photographic engineer, but that’s another story. I find it hard to listen to anything other than instrumental when I’m writing, even then, classical is best. If it’s a tune I might know the words to I’m easily distracted.
Those guys are great!! I was a theater kid and still love musical theater. I can’t listen to music when I write because I have the urge to sing along which totally messes with what I’m trying to write. Sometimes I listen to piano music or soundtracks. “The Last of the Mohicans” is one of my favorite.